Legally Significant Protection of Works

A fundamental issue in copyright law is that a mere declaration of authorship — standing alone — does not constitute legally sufficient evidence of rights. In practice, such declarations are often made at negligible cost: for example, by an author sending a sealed envelope containing a copy of the work to their own address via postal service. This approach is colloquially known as the “poor man’s copyright.”

It must be emphasised that neither international nor national copyright law recognises this mechanism as a legally valid or enforceable form of protection. Such practice does not substitute for the established procedure of formal registration and does not provide an adequate level of legal protection for the copyrighted work.

The critical challenge in the protection of rightholders’ interests typically arises at the enforcement stage — in particular, in the course of copyright infringement disputes and in dealings with governmental authorities or financial institutions (such as royalty payment administration). In these contexts, the existence of a sufficient and properly documented evidentiary basis — confirming the fact of creation and establishing ownership of the intellectual work — is of paramount importance.

In the absence of a deposited copyright registration supported by duly issued copyright certificates, rightholders face significant difficulty in demonstrating that their works are original, recorded in evidentiary form, and precede any third-party competing claims.

MARIS DD provides a modern digital depository system enabling creators to register intellectual property objects with full verification, validation, and international recognition. Following digital deposit, MARIS DD is able — upon the client’s request — to provide a printed copy of the IP Certificate as evidence that the work is registered in the rightholder’s name.